Why does my AB testing suck?

5th Sep 2013 @OptimiseOrDie

2

#11 Top Split Test & CRO questions#1 How to choose test type!#2 Top CRO questions

11.1 – How to choose the test type• Test complexity – this drains time!• Analytics – will this allow you to test before/after?• Money now or Precise data later• What stage are you at with the client?• How volatile is the data and traffic?• Are there huge non weekly patterns – seasonal?• A/B tests – Design shift, new baseline, local maxima• MVT – Need to know variables, client can’t settle• Small MVT – A/B + MVT benefits (2x2x2 or 2x2x4)• Traffic is your biggest factor here• Use the VWO test run calculator• Do a rough calculation yourself• Let’s look at some recent pages of yours

4

11.2 – Top Conversion Questions• 32 questions, picked by Practitioners• I plan to record them all as a course!• What top stuff did I hear?

“How long will my test take?”“When should I check the results?”“How do I know if it’s ready?”“What happens if a test fails?”“What sort of QA testing should I do?”

5

#1 The tennis court– Let’s say we want to estimate, on average, what height Roger Federer

and Nadal hit the ball over the net at. So, let’s start the match:

6

First Set Federer 6-4– We start to collect values

62cm+/- 2cm

63.5cm+/- 2cm

7

Second Set – Nadal 7-6– Nadal starts sending them low over the net

62cm+/- 1cm

62.5cm+/- 1cm

Final Set Nadal 7-6– We start to collect values

61.8cm+/- .3cm

62cm+/- .3cm

9

Let’s look at this a different way

62.5cm+/- 1cm

9.1 ± 0.3%

Graph is a range, not a line:

9.1 ± 0.3%

11

#1 Summary• The minimum length

– 2 business cyclesOR

– 250, pref 350 outcomes in each

– Calculate time to reach minimum– Work on footfall, not sitewide– So, if you get 1,000 visitors a day to a new test page– You convert at around 5% (50 checkouts)– You have two creatives– At current volumes, you’ll get ~25 checkouts a day for each creative– That means you need 14 days minimum– If they separate, it might take less (but business cycle rule kicks in)– If they don’t separate, it could take longer– Remember it’s a fuzzy region – not a precise point

12

#1 Summary• The minimum length

– Depends on performance– If you test two shades of blue?– Traffic may change– PPC budget might run out– TV advertising may start– Segment level performance may drive– You can estimate a test length – you cannot predict it– Be aware of your marketing activity, always– Watch your test like a hyper-engaged chef

13

11.3 – Are we there yet? Early test stages…• Ignore the graphs. Don’t draw conclusions. Don’t dance. Calm down.• Get a feel for the test but don’t do anything yet! • Remember – in A/B - 50% of returning visitors will see a new shiny website!• Until your test has had at least 1 business cycle and 250-350 outcomes, don’t

bother drawing conclusions or getting excited!• You’re looking for anything that looks really odd – your analytics person should be

checking all the figures until you’re satisfied• All tests move around or show big swings early in the testing cycle. Here is a very

high traffic site – it still takes 10 days to start settling. Lower traffic sites will stretch this period further.

14

11.4 – What happens when a test flips on me?

• Something like this can happen:

• Check your sample size. If it’s still small, then expect this until the test settles.• If the test does genuinely flip – and quite severely – then something has changed with

the traffic mix, the customer base or your advertising. Maybe the PPC budget ran out? Seriously!

• To analyse a flipped test, you’ll need to check your segmented data. This is why you have a split testing package AND an analytics system.

• The segmented data will help you to identify the source of the shift in response to your test. I rarely get a flipped one and it’s always something changing on me, without being told. The heartless bastards.

15

11.5 – What happens if a test is still moving around?

• There are three reasons it is moving around– Your sample size (outcomes) is still too small– The external traffic mix, customers or reaction has

suddenly changed or – Your inbound marketing driven traffic mix is

completely volatile (very rare)

• Check the sample size• Check all your marketing activity• Check the instrumentation• If no reason, check segmentation

16

11.6 – How do I know when it’s ready?

• The hallmarks of a cooked test are:– It’s done at least 1 or 2 (preferred) cycles– You have at least 250-350 outcomes for each recipe– It’s not moving around hugely at creative or segment level

performance– The test results are clear – even if the precise values are not– The intervals are not overlapping (much)– If a test is still moving around, you need to investigate– Always declare on a business cycle boundary – not the middle of

a period (this introduces bias)– Don’t declare in the middle of a limited time period advertising

campaign (e.g. TV, print, online)– Always test before and after large marketing campaigns (one

week on, one week off)

17

11.7 – What happens if it’s inconclusive?

• Analyse the segmentation• One or more segments may be over and under• They may be cancelling out – the average is a lie• The segment level performance will help you

(beware of small sample sizes)• If you genuinely have a test which failed to move any

segments, it’s a crap test• This usually happens when it isn’t bold or brave

enough in shifting away from the original design, particularly on lower traffic sites

• Get testing again!

18

11.8 – What QA testing should I do?

• Cross Browser Testing• Testing from several locations (office, home, elsewhere)• Testing the IP filtering is set up• Test tags are firing correctly (analytics and the test tool)• Test as a repeat visitor and check session timeouts• Cross check figures from 2+ sources • Monitor closely from launch, recheck

19

11.9 – What happens if it fails?

• Learn from the failure• If you can’t learn from the failure, you’ve designed a crap test. Next

time you design, imagine all your stuff failing. What would you do? If you don’t know or you’re not sure, get it changed so that a negative becomes useful.

• So : failure itself at a creative or variable level should tell you something.

• On a failed test, always analyse the segmentation• One or more segments will be over and under• Check for varied performance• Now add the failure info to your Knowledge Base:• Look at it carefully – what does the failure tell you? Which element do

you think drove the failure?• If you know what failed (e.g. making the price bigger) then you have

very useful information• You turned the handle the wrong way• Now brainstorm a new test

20

11.10 – Should I run an A/A test first?

• No – and this is why:– It’s a waste of time– It’s easier to test and monitor instead– You are eating into test time– Also applies to A/A/B/B testing– A/B/A running at 25%/50%/25% is the best

• Read my post here :http://bit.ly/WcI9EZ

21

11.11 – What is a good conversion rate?

Higher than the one you had last month!

22

#12 – Top reasons summary• You weren’t bold enough• You made the test too complex• Your test didn’t tell you anything

(failures too!)• You didn’t do browser QA• The session model is broken• Your redirects are flawed• Your office is part of the bias• The test isn’t truly random / The

samples aren’t representative • Your sample size is too small• You didn’t test for long enough• You didn’t look at the error rates• You didn’t cross instrument

• You’ve missed one or more underlying cycles

• You don’t factor in before/after cycles

• One test has an inherent performance bias (load time, for example)

• You didn’t watch segment performance

• You’re measuring too shallowly in the funnel

• Your traffic mix has changed• You’re not measuring channel

switchers (phone/email/chat etc.)• The analytics setup is broken!

23

#13 – Summary - tests• This isn’t about tools – it’s about your thinking and approach to problems.

Bravery and curiosity more important than wizardry!• Keep it simple and aim for actionable truths and insights• Invest in staff, training, analytics (yours and your clients)• More wired in clients means happier agency!• Fixing problems impresses clients even before you start (health check)• Prioritise issues into opportunity & effort• Showing models around money is a winner• Do something every week to make the client configuration better

• Let me use a till analogy!• What about a Formula 1 racing car?• Get clients to pay you to invest in their future• Give staff time to train themselves, go on courses, get qualified• On that note – experience with core skills + topups = GA experts• Tap into the community out there• Hopefully this has given you a great springboard to MORE!

24

Is there a way to fix this then?Conversion Heroes!

@OptimiseOrDie

25

END & QUESTIONS

26

Email

Twitter

:sullivac@gmail.com

:@OptimiseOrDie

:linkd.in/pvrg14

More reading.

27

RESOURCE PACK

So you want examples?

• Belron – Ed Colley• Dell – Nazli Yuzak• Shop Direct – Paul Postance (now with EE)• Expedia – Oliver Paton• Schuh – Stuart McMillan• Soundcloud – Eleftherios Diakomichalis & Ole

Bahlmann• Gov.uk – Adam Bailin (now with the BBC)

Read the gov.uk principles : www.gov.uk/designprinciples

And my personal favourite of 2013 – Airbnb!

@OptimiseOrDie

Best of Twitter

@OptimiseOrDie

@danbarker Analytics@fastbloke Analytics@timlb Analytics@jamesgurd Analytics@therustybear Analytics@carmenmardiros Analytics@davechaffey Analytics@priteshpatel9 Analytics@cutroni Analytics@AschottmullerAnalytics, CRO@cartmetrix Analytics, CRO@Kissmetrics CRO / UX@Unbounce CRO / UX@Morys CRO/Neuro

@PeepLaja CRO@TheGrok CRO@UIE UX@LukeW UX / Forms@cjforms UX / Forms@axbom UX@iatv UX@Chudders Photo UX@JeffreyGroks Innovation@StephanieRieger Innovation@DrEscotet Neuro@TheBrainLadyNeuro@RogerDooley Neuro@Cugelman Neuro

Best of the Web

@OptimiseOrDie

Whichtestwon.comUnbounce.comKissmetrics.comUxmatters.comRogerDooley.comPhotoUX.comTheTeamW.comBaymard.comLukew.comPRWD.comMeasuringusability.comConversionXL.comSmartinsights.comEconsultancy.comCutroni.com

www.GetMentalNotes.com

Best of Books

@OptimiseOrDie

32

#13 Top Augmentation Tools

#1 Session Replay#2 Browser & Email testing#3 VOC, Survey & Feedback tools#4 Guerrilla Usability#5 Productivity tools#6 Split testing#7 Performance#8 Crowdsourcing#9 Analytics Love

33

13.1 - Session Replay• 3 kinds of tool :

Client side • Normally Javascript based• Pros : Rich mouse and click data,

errors, forms analytics, UI interactions.• Cons : Dynamic content issue, Performance hit

Server side• Black Box -> Proxy, Sniffer, Port copying device• Pros : Gets all dynamic content, fast, legally tight• Cons : No client side interactions, Ajax, HTML5 etc.

Hybrid• Clientside and Sniffing with central data store

34

13.1 - Session Replay• Vital for optimisers & fills in a ‘missing link’ for insight• Rich source of data on visitor experiences• Segment by browser, visitor type, behaviour, errors• Forms Analytics (when instrumented) are awesome• Can be used to optimise in real time!

Session replay tools• Clicktale (Client) www.clicktale.com• SessionCam (Client) www.sessioncam.com• Mouseflow (Client) www.mouseflow.com• Ghostrec (Client) www.ghostrec.com• Usabilla (Client) www.usabilla.com• Tealeaf (Hybrid) www.tealeaf.com• UserReplay (Server) www.userreplay.com

35

36

37

38

13.2 - Feedback / VOC tools• Anything that allows immediate realtime onpage feedback• Comments on elements, pages and overall site & service• Can be used for behavioural triggered feedback• Tip! : Take the Call Centre for beers

• Kampylewww.kampyle.com

• Qualaroo www.qualaroo.com

• 4Q4q.iperceptions.com

• Usabillawww.usabilla.com

39

13.3 - Survey Tools• Surveymonkeywww.surveymonkey.com (1/5)• Zoomerang www.zoomerang.com (3/5)• SurveyGizmo www.surveygizmo.com (5/5)

• For surveys, web forms, checkouts, lead gen – anything with form filling – you have to read these two:Caroline Jarrett (@cjforms)Luke Wroblewski (@lukew)

• With their work and copywriting from @stickycontent, I managed to get a survey with a 35% clickthrough from email and a whopping 94% form completion rate.

• Their awesome insights are the killer app I have when optimising forms and funnel processes for clients.

40

13.4 – Experience the experience!

Email testing www.litmus.comwww.returnpath.comwww.lyris.com

Browser testing www.crossbrowsertesting.comwww.cloudtesting.comwww.multibrowserviewer.comwww.saucelabs.com

Mobile devices www.perfectomobile.comwww.deviceanywhere.comwww.mobilexweb.com/emulatorswww.opendevicelab.com

41

13.5 - Stingy Client Testing• Mobile can be lots of fun• Some low budget stuff you may know about already:

CamStudio (free)www.camstudio.org

Mediacam AV (cheap)www.netu2.co.uk

Silverback (Mac)www.silverbackapp.com

Screenflow (Mac)www.telestream.net

UX Recorder (iOS), Skype Hugging, Reflection www.uxrecorder.com & bit.ly/tesTfm & bit.ly/GZMgxR

42

13.6 - Productivity tools

Oh sh*t

43

1.6 - Join.me

44

1.6 - Pivotal Tracker

45

1.6 – Trello

46

1.6 - Basecamp

47

• Lots of people don’t know this• Serious time is getting wasted on pulling and preparing data• Use the Google API to roll your own reports straight into Big G• Google Analytics + API + Google docs integration = A BETTER LIFE!• Hack your way to having more productive weeks• Learn how to do this to make completely custom reports

1.6 - Google Docs and Automation

48

• LucidChart

13.7 - Cloud Collaboration

49

• Webnotes

13.7 - Cloud Collaboration

50

• Protonotes

13.7 - Cloud Collaboration

51

• Conceptshare

13.7 - Cloud Collaboration

52

13.8 - Split testing tools – Cheap!• Google Content Experiments

bit.ly/Ljg7Ds

• Multi Armed Bandit Explanationbit.ly/Xa80O8

• Optimizelywww.optimizely.com

• Visual Website Optimizerwww.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com

53

13.9 - Performance

• Google Site Speed• Webpagetest.org• Mobitest.akamai.org

Site Size Requests

The Daily Mail 4574k 437

Starbucks 1300k 145

Direct line 887k 45

Ikea (.se) 684k 14

Currys 667k 68

Marks & Spencers

308k 45

Tesco 234k 15

The Guardian 195k 35

BBC News 182k 62

Auto Trader 151k 47

Amazon 128k 16

Aviva 111k 18

Autoglass 25k 10

Real testing : mobitest.akamai.com

Slides : slidesha.re/PDpTPD

If you really care, download this deck:

Scare the Ecom or Trading director:

57

Som, feedbackRemote UX tools (P=Panel, S=Site recruited, B=Both)Usertesting (B) www.usertesting.comUserlytics (B) www.userlytics.comUserzoom (S) www.userzoom.comIntuition HQ (S) www.intuitionhq.comMechanical turk (S) www.mechanicalturk.comLoop11 (S) www.loop11.comOpen Hallway (S) www.openhallway.comWhat Users Do (P) www.whatusersdo.comFeedback army (P) www.feedbackarmy.comUser feel (P) www.userfeel.comEthnio (For Recruiting) www.ethnio.com

Feedback on Prototypes / MockupsPidoco www.pidoco.comVerify from Zurb www.verifyapp.comFive second test www.fivesecondtest.comConceptshare www.conceptshare.comUsabilla www.usabilla.com

13.10 – UX Crowd tools

58

13.11 - Web Analytics Love• Properly instrumented analytics• Investment of 5-10% of developer time• Add more than you need• Events insights• Segmentation• Call tracking love!

59

13.12 - Tap 2 Call trackingStep 1 : Add a unique phone number on ALL channels

(or insert your own dynamic number)

Step 2 : For phones, add “Tap to Call” or “Click to Call”

• Add Analytics event or tag for phone calls!• Very reliable data, easy & cheap to do

• What did they do before calling?• Which page did they call you from?• What PPC or SEO keyword did they use?• Incredibly useful – this keyword level call data• What are you over or underbidding for?• Will help you shave 10, 20%+ off PPC• Which online marketing really sucks?

60

safe

lit

safe

light

rep

air

phon

e nu

mbe

rca

r gl

ass

repa

irsa

felit

e w

inds

hiel

dw

inds

heild

rep

lace

men

tau

to g

lass

auto

win

dow

rep

lace

men

tau

to g

lass

rep

lace

men

tsa

fe li

ght

auto

gla

ss r

epai

rsa

felig

ht w

inds

hiel

dsa

felit

safe

lite

auto

gla

ssau

to w

indo

w r

epai

rau

to g

lass

spe

cial

ists

safe

lite

repa

irch

eap

win

dshi

eld

repl

acem

ent

safe

light

auto

glas

s re

plac

emen

tau

tolit

e w

inds

hiel

d re

pair

win

dshi

eld

repl

acem

ent p

rice

safe

lite

loca

tions

repl

acin

g w

inds

hiel

dsa

felit

e au

to g

lass

rep

air

win

dshi

eld

repa

irm

obile

win

dshi

eld

repa

irel

ite a

uto

glas

sre

plac

e w

inds

hiel

dsa

felit

e au

to g

lass

mn

safe

light

win

dow

rep

air

new

win

dshi

eld

cost

win

dshi

eld

crac

k re

pair

safe

ligh

t aut

o gl

ass

car

win

dow

rep

air

cost

auto

gla

ss r

epai

r ka

nsas

city

safe

ty li

teau

to g

lass

rep

air

hous

ton

txth

e gu

ys in

the

little

red

truc

ksa

felit

e pr

ices

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

Phone to Booking Ratio

61

13.12 – And desktops?Step 1 : Add ‘Click to reveal’• Can be a link, button or a collapsed section• Add to your analytics software• This is a great budget option!

Step 2 : Invest in call analytics• Unique visitor tracking for desktop • Gives you that detailed marketing data• Easy to implement• Integrates with your web analytics• Let me explain…

62

13.12 - So what does phone tracking get you?

• You can do it for free on your online channels• If you’ve got any phone sales or contact operation, this will

change the game for you• For the first time, analytics for PHONE for web to claim• Optimise your PPC spend• Track and Test stuff on phones, using web technology• The two best phone A/B tests? You’ll laugh!

63

Who?Company Website Coverage

Mongoose Metrics* www.mongoosemetrics.com UK, USA, Canada

Ifbyphone* www.ifbyphone.com USA

TheCallR* www.thecallr.com USA, Canada, UK, IT, FR, BE, ES, NL

Call tracking metrics www.calltrackingmetrics.com USA

Hosted Numbers www.hostednumbers.com USA

Callcap www.callcap.com USA

Freespee* www.freespee.com UK, SE, FI, NO, DK, LT, PL, IE, CZ, SI, AT, NL, DE

Adinsight* www.adinsight.co.uk UK

Infinity tracking* www.infinity-tracking.com UK

Optilead* www.optilead.co.uk UK

Switchboard free www.switchboardfree.co.uk UK

Freshegg www.freshegg.co.uk UKAvanser www.avanser.com.au AUS

Jet Interactive* www.jetinteractive.com.au AUS* I read up on these or talked to them. These are my picks.

64

Phone to Booking Ratio

65

13.12 - Web Analytics Love

• People, Process, Human problems• UX of web analytics tools and reports• Make the UI force decisions!• Playability and exploration• Skunkworks project time (5-10%)• Give it love, time, money and iteration• How often do you iterate analytics?• Lastly, spend to automate, gain MORE

time

66

END & QUESTIONS

67

END & QUESTIONS

When you get a 20% lift

68

RESOURCE PACK

• Maturity model• Crowdsourced UX• Collaborative tools• Testing tools for CRO & QA• Belron methodology example• CRO and testing resources

69

Ad Hoc

Local HeroesChaotic Good

Level 1Starter Level

GuessingA/B testingBasic tools

AnalyticsSurveys

Contact CentreLow budget

usability

Outline process

Small teamLow hanging

fruit

+ Multi variateSession replayNo segments

+Regular usability

testing/research

PrototypingSession replay

Onsite feedback

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ _

Dedicated team

Volume opportunities

Cross silo teamSystematic

tests

Ninja TeamTesting in the

DNA

Well developed Streamlined Company wide

+Funnel optimisationCall tracking

Some segments Micro testing

Bounce ratesBig volume

landing pages

+ Funnel analysis

Low converting & High loss

pages

+ offline integration

Single channel picture

+ Funnel fixesForms analytics

Channel switches

+Cross channel testing

Integrated CRO and analyticsSegmentation

+Spread tool use

Dynamic adaptive targetingMachine learningRealtime

Multichannel funnels

Cross channel synergy

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Testing

focus

Culture

Process

Analytics

focus

Insightmethod

s

+User Centered DesignLayered feedback

Mini product tests

Get buyin

________________________________________________________________________________________________Missio

nProve ROI Scale the

testing Mine valueContinual

improvement

+ Customer sat scores tied to

UXRapid iterative

testing and design

+ All channel view of

customerDriving offline using online

All promotion driven by testing

Level 2Early maturity

Level 3Serious testing

Level 4Core business value

Level 5You rock, awesomely

________________________________________________________________________________________________

70

Som, feedbackRemote UX tools (P=Panel, S=Site recruited, B=Both)Usertesting (B) www.usertesting.comUserlytics (B) www.userlytics.comUserzoom (S) www.userzoom.comIntuition HQ (S) www.intuitionhq.comMechanical turk (S) www.mechanicalturk.comLoop11 (S) www.loop11.comOpen Hallway (S) www.openhallway.comWhat Users Do (P) www.whatusersdo.comFeedback army (P) www.feedbackarmy.comUser feel (P) www.userfeel.comEthnio (For Recruiting) www.ethnio.com

Feedback on Prototypes / MockupsPidoco www.pidoco.comVerify from Zurb www.verifyapp.comFive second test www.fivesecondtest.comConceptshare www.conceptshare.comUsabilla www.usabilla.com

2 - UX Crowd tools

71

3 - Collaborative Tools

Oh sh*t

72

3.1 - Join.me

73

3.2 - Pivotal Tracker

74

3.3 – Trello

75

3.4 - Basecamp

76

• Lots of people don’t know this• Serious time is getting wasted on pulling and preparing data• Use the Google API to roll your own reports straight into Big G• Google Analytics + API + Google docs integration = A BETTER LIFE!• Hack your way to having more productive weeks• Learn how to do this to make completely custom reports

3.5 - Google Docs and Automation

77

• LucidChart

3.6 - Cloud Collaboration

78

• Webnotes

3.7 - Cloud Collaboration

79

• Protonotes

3.8 - Cloud Collaboration

80

• Conceptshare

3.9 - Cloud Collaboration

81

4 – QA and Testing tools

Email testing www.litmus.comwww.returnpath.comwww.lyris.com

Browser testing www.crossbrowsertesting.comwww.cloudtesting.comwww.multibrowserviewer.comwww.saucelabs.com

Mobile devices www.perfectomobile.comwww.deviceanywhere.comwww.mobilexweb.com/emulatorswww.opendevicelab.com

82

5 – Méthodologies - Lean UX

Positive– Lightweight and very fast methods– Realtime or rapid improvements– Documentation light, value high– Low on wastage and frippery– Fast time to market, then optimise– Allows you to pivot into new areas

Negative– Often needs user test feedback to

steer the development, as data not enough

– Bosses distrust stuff where the outcome isn’t known

“The application of UX design methods into product development, tailored to fit Build-Measure-Learn cycles.”

83

5 - Agile UX / UCD / Collaborative Design

Positive– User centric– Goals met substantially– Rapid time to market (especially when

using Agile iterations)

Negative– Without quant data, user goals can

drive the show – missing the business sweet spot

– Some people find it hard to integrate with siloed teams

– Doesn’t’ work with waterfall IMHO

Wireframe

Prototype

TestAnalyse

Concept

Research

“An integration of User Experience Design and Agile* Software Development Methodologies”

*Sometimes

84

CRO

85

5 - Lean Conversion Optimisation

Positive– A blend of several techniques– Multiple sources of Qual and Quant data aids triangulation– CRO analytics focus drives unearned value inside all

products

Negative– Needs a one team approach with a strong PM who is a

Polymath (Commercial, Analytics, UX, Technical)– Only works if your teams can take the pace – you might be

surprised though!

“A blend of User Experience Design, Agile PM, Rapid Lean UX Build-Measure-Learn cycles, triangulated data sources, triage and prioritisation.”

86

5 - Lean CROInspectio

n

Immersion

Identify

Triage & Triangulate

Outcome Streams

Measure

Learn

Instrument

87

5 - Triage and Triangulation

• Starts with the analytics data• Then UX and user journey walkthrough from SERPS -> key paths• Then back to analytics data for a whole range of reports:• Segmented reporting, Traffic sources, Device viewport and

browser, Platform (tablet, mobile, desktop) and many more• We use other tools or insight sources to help form hypotheses• We triangulate with other data where possible• We estimate the potential uplift of fixing/improving something

as well as the difficulty (time/resource/complexity/risk)• A simple quadrant shows the value clusters• We then WORK the highest and easiest scores by…• Turning every opportunity spotted into an OUTCOME

“This is where the smarts of CRO are – in identifying the easiest stuff to test or fix that will drive the largest uplift.”

88

5 - The Bucket Methodology“Helps you to stream actions from the insights and prioritisation work. Forces an action for every issue, a counter for every opportunity being lost.”

Test If there is an obvious opportunity to shift behaviour, expose insight or increase conversion – this bucket is where you place stuff for testing. If

you have traffic and leakage, this is the bucket for that issue.

InstrumentIf an issue is placed in this bucket, it means we need to beef up the

analytics reporting. This can involve fixing, adding or improving tag or event handling on the analytics configuration. We instrument both

structurally and for insight in the pain points we’ve found.

Hypothesise This is where we’ve found a page, widget or process that’s just not working well but we don’t see a clear single solution. Since we need to really shift the behaviour at this crux point, we’ll brainstorm hypotheses. Driven by

evidence and data, we’ll create test plans to find the answers to the questions and change the conversion or KPI figure in the desired direction.

Just Do It JFDI (Just Do It) – is a bucket for issues where a fix is easy to identify or the change is a no-brainer. Items marked with this flag can either be deployed in a batch or as part of a controlled test. Stuff in here requires low effort or are micro-opportunities to increase conversion and should be fixed.

Investigate You need to do some testing with particular devices or need more information to triangulate a problem you spotted. If an item is in this

bucket, you need to ask questions or do further digging.

5 - Belron example – Funnel replacement

Final prototype

Usability issues left

Final changes

Release build

Legal review kickoff

Cust services review kickoff

Marketing reviewTest Plan

Signoff (Legal, Mktng, CCC)

Instrument analytics

Instrument Contact Centre

Offline tagging QA testing End-End

testingLaunch 90/10%

MonitorLaunch 80/20%

Monitor < 1 week

Launch 50/50%

Go live 100%

Analytics review

Washup and actions

New hypotheses

New test design

Rinse and Repeat!

90

6 - CRO and Testing resources• 101 Landing page tips : slidesha.re/8OnBRh • 544 Optimisation tips : bit.ly/8mkWOB• 108 Optimisation tips : bit.ly/3Z6GrP• 32 CRO tips : bit.ly/4BZjcW• 57 CRO books : bit.ly/dDjDRJ• CRO article list : bit.ly/nEUgui• Smashing Mag article : bit.ly/8X2fLk

91

END SLIDESFeel free to steal, re-use, appropriate or otherwise lift stuff from this deck.

If it was useful to you – email me or tweet me and tell me why – I’d be DELIGHTED to hear!

Regards,

Craig.

Why does my CRO suck?

5th Sep 2013 @OptimiseOrDie

@OptimiseOrDie

Timeline

- 1998 1999 - 2004

2004-2008 2008-2012

Belron Brands

@OptimiseOrDie

SEO

@OptimiseOrDie

PPC UX Analytics

A/B and Multivariate testing

Customer Satisfaction

Design

QADevelopment

40+ websites, 34 countries, 19 languages, €1bn+ revenue

Performance

8 people

@OptimiseOrDie

Ahh, how it hurt

If you’re not a part of the solution, there’s good money to be made in prolonging the

problem

Out of my comfort zone…

@OptimiseOrDie

Behind enemy lines…

@OptimiseOrDie

Nice day at the office, dear?

@OptimiseOrDie

Competition…

Traffic is harder!

SEO/PPC

Panguin tool…

Casino Psychology

If it isn’t working, you’re not doing it right

@OptimiseOrDie

#1 : Your analytics are cattle trucked

@OptimiseOrDie

#1 : Your analytics are cattle trucked

@OptimiseOrDie

#1 : Common problems (GA)• Dual purpose goal page

– One page used by two outcomes – and not split

• Cross domain tracking– Where you jump between sites, this borks the data

• Filters not correctly set up– Your office, agencies, developers are skewing data

• Code missing or double code– Causes visit splitting, double pageviews, skews bounce rate

• Campaign, Social, Email tracking etc.– External links you generate are not setup to record properly

• Errors not tracked (404, 5xx, Other)– You are unaware of error volumes, locations and impact

• Dual flow funnels– Flows join in the middle of a funnel or loop internally

• Event tracking skews bounce rate– If an event is set to be ‘interactive’ – it can skew bounce rate

(example)

@OptimiseOrDie

110

#1 : Common problems (GA)– EXAMPLE

Landing 1st interaction Loss 2nd

interaction Loss 3rd interaction Loss 4th

interaction Loss

55900 527 99.1% 66 87.5% 55 16.7% 33 40.0%

30900 4120 86.7% 2470 40.0% 1680 32.0% 1240 26.2%

#1 : Solutions• Get a Health Check for your Analytics

– Try @prwd, @danbarker, @peter_oneill or ask me!

• Invest continually in instrumentation– Aim for at least 5% of dev time to fix +

improve• Stop shrugging : plug your insight gaps

– Change ‘I don’t know’ to ‘I’ll find out’• Look at event tracking (Google Analytics)

– If set up correctly, you get wonderful insights• Would you use paper instead of a till?

– You wouldn’t do it in retail so stop doing it online!

• How do you win F1 races?– With the wrong performance data, you won’t

@OptimiseOrDie

Insight - Inputs

#FAIL

Competitor copying

GuessingDice rolling

An article the CEO

read

Competitor change

Panic

Ego

OpinionCherished

notions Marketing whims Cosmic rays

Not ‘on brand’ enough

IT inflexibility

Internal company

needs

Some dumbass

consultant

Shiny feature

blindnessKnee jerk reactons

#2 : Your inputs are all wrong

@OptimiseOrDie

Insight - Inputs

Insight

Segmentation

SurveysSales and

Call Centre

Session Replay

Social analytics

Customer contact

Eye tracking

Usability testing

Forms analytics Search

analytics Voice of Customer

Market research

A/B and MVT testing

Big & unstructured

data

Web analytics

Competitor evalsCustomer

services

#2 : Your inputs are all wrong

@OptimiseOrDie

#2 : Solutions• Usability testing and User Centred design

– If you’re not doing this properly, you’re hosed

• Champion UX+ - with added numbers– (Re)designing without inputs + numbers is guessing

• You need one team on this, not silos– Stop handing round the baby (I’ll come back to this)

• Ego, Opinion, Cherished notions – fill gaps– Fill these vacuums with insights and data

• Champion the users– Someone needs to take their side!

• You need multiple tool inputs– Let me show you my core list

@OptimiseOrDie

#2 : Core tools• Properly set up analytics

– Without this foundation, you’re toast• Session replay tools

– Clicktale, Tealeaf, Sessioncam and more…• Cheap / Crowdsourced usability testing

– See the resource pack for more details• Voice of Customer / Feedback tools

– 4Q, Kampyle, Qualaroo, Usabilla and more… • A/B and Multivariate testing

– Optimizely, Google Content Experiments, VWO• Email, Browser and Mobile testing

– You don’t know if it works unless you check

@OptimiseOrDie

#3 : You’re not testing (enough)

@OptimiseOrDie

#3 : Common problems• Let’s take a quick poll

– How many tests do you complete a month?

• Not enough resource – You MUST hire, invest and ringfence time and staff for CRO

• Testing has gone to sleep– Some vendors have a ‘rescue’ team for these accounts

• Vanity testing takes hold– Getting one test done a quarter? Still showing it a year later?

• You keep testing without buyin at C-Level– If nobody sees the flower, was it there?

• You haven’t got a process – just a plugin– Insight, Brainstorm, Wireframe, Design, Build, QA test,

Monitor, Analyse. Tools, Process, People, Time -> INVEST

• IT or release barriers slow down work– Circumvent with tagging tools– Develop ways around the innovation barrier

@OptimiseOrDie

#4 : Not executing fast enough

@OptimiseOrDie

#4 : Not executing fast enough

• Silo Mentality means pass the product– No ‘one team’ approach means no ‘one product’

• The process is badly designed– See the resource pack or ask me later!

• People mistake hypotheses for finals– Endless argument, tweaking means NO TESTING – let

the test decide, please!

• No clarity : authority or decision making– You need a strong leader to get things decided

• Signoff takes far too long– Signoff by committee is a velocity killer – the CUSTOMER

and the NUMBERS are the signoff

• You set your target too low– Aim for a high target and keep increasing it @OptimiseOrD

ie

CRO

@OptimiseOrDie

#4 : Execution solutions• Agile, One Team approach

– Everyone works on the lifecycle, together

• Hire Polymaths– T-shaped or just multi-skilled, I hire them a lot

• Use Collaborative Tools, not meetings– See the resource pack

• Market the results– Market this stuff internally like a PR agency – Encourage betting in the office

• Smash down silos – a special mission– Involve the worst offenders in the hypothesis team– “Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer”– Work WITH the developers to find solutions– Ask Developers and IT for solutions, not apologies

@OptimiseOrDie

#5 : Product cycles are too long

0 6 12 18

Months

Conversion

@OptimiseOrDie

#5 : Solutions• Give Priority Boarding for opportunities

– The best seats reserved for metric shifters

• Release more often to close the gap– More testing resource helps, analytics ‘hawk eye’

• Kaizen – continuous improvement– Others call it JFDI (just f***ing do it)

• Make changes AS WELL as tests, basically!– These small things add up

• RUSH Hair booking – Over 100 changes– No functional changes at all – 37% improvement

• Inbetween product lifecycles?– The added lift for 10 days work, worth 360k

@OptimiseOrDie

#5 : Make your own cycles“Rather than try and improve one thing by 10% - which would be very, very difficult to do,

We go and find 1,000 things and improve them all by a fraction of a per cent, which is totally do-able.”Chris Boardman

@OptimiseOrDie

#6 – No Photo UX

24 Jan 2012

• Persuasion / Influence / Direction / Explanation

• Helps people process information and stories

• Vital to sell an ‘experience’

• Helps people recognise and discriminate between things

• Supports Scanning Visitors

• Drives emotional response

short.cx/YrBczl

• Very powerful and under-estimated area

• I’ve done over 20M visitor tests with people images for a service industry – some tips:

• The person, pose, eye gaze, facial expressions and body language – cause visceral emotional reactions and big changes in behaviour

• Eye gaze crucial – to engage you or to ‘point’

Photo UX

24 Jan 2012

• Negative body language is a turnoff • Uniforms and branding a positive (ball

cap) • Hands are hard to handle – use a prop to

help• For Ecommerce – tip! test bigger images!• Autoglass and Belron always use real

people• In most countries (out of 33) with strong

female and male images in test, female wins

• Smile and authenticity in these examples is absolutely vital

• So, I have a question for you

Photo UX

@OptimiseOrDie

+13.9%

@OptimiseOrDie

+5.9%

Terrible Stock Photos : headsethotties.com & awkwardstockphotos.comLaughing at Salads : womenlaughingwithsalad.tumblr.com

BBC Fake Smile Test : bbc.in/5rtnv@OptimiseOrD

ie

SPAIN

+22% over control

99% confidence

“It’s not about what you think when you look at the design – it’s about the reaction it causes in the mind of the viewer. Always design for that first.”

@OptimiseOrDie

@OptimiseOrDie

#7 : Your tests are cattle trucked• Many tests fail due to QA or browser

bugs– Always do cross browser QA testing – see resources

• Don’t rely on developers saying ‘yes’– Use your analytics to define the list to test

• Cross instrument your analytics– You need this to check the test software works

• Store the variant(s) seen in analytics– Compare people who saw A/B/A vs. A/B/B

• Segment your data to find variances– Failed tests usually show differences for segments

• Watch the test and analytics CLOSELY– After you go live, religiously check both– Read this article : stanford.io/15UYov0 @OptimiseOrD

ie

#8 : Stats are confusing

• Many testers & marketing people struggle– How long will it take to run the test?– Is the test ready?– How long should I keep it running for?– It says it’s ready after 3 days – is it?– Can we close it now – the numbers look great!

• A/B testing maths for dummies:– http://bit.ly/15UXLS4

• For more advanced testers:– Read this : http://bit.ly/1a4iJ1H

• I’m going to build a stats course– To explain all the common questions– To save me having to explain this crap all the time

@OptimiseOrDie

#9 : You’re not segmenting

• Averages lie– What about new vs. returning visitors?– What about different keyword groups?– Landing pages? Routes? Attributes

• Failed tests are just ‘averaged out’– You must look at segment level data– You must integrate the analytics + a/b test software

• The downside?– You’ll need more test data – to segment

• The upside?– Helps figure out why test didn’t perform– Finds value in failed or ‘no difference’ tests– Drives further testing focus

@OptimiseOrDie

#10 : You’re unichannel optimising

• Not using call tracking– Look at Infinity Tracking (UK)– Get Google keyword level call volumes!

• You don’t measure channel switchers– People who bail a funnel and call– People who use chat or other contact/sales

• You ‘forget’ mobile & tablet journeys– Walk the path from search -> ppc/seo -> site– Optimise for all your device mix & journeys

• You’re responsive– Testing may now bleed across device platforms– Changing in one place may impact many others– QA, Device and Browser testing even more vital

@OptimiseOrDie

SUMMARY : The best Companies….

• Invest continually in Analytics instrumentation, tools & people• Use an Agile, iterative, Cross-silo, One team project culture• Prefer collaborative tools to having lots of meetings• Prioritise development based on numbers and insight• Practice real continuous product improvement, not SLED• Source photos and copy that support persuasion and utility• Have cross channel, cross device design, testing and QA• Segment their data for valuable insights, every test or change• Continually try to reduce cycle (iteration) time in their process• Blend ‘long’ design, continuous improvement AND split tests• Make optimisation the engine of change, not the slave of ego• See the Maturity Model in the resource pack

@OptimiseOrDie